Edge of Ruin: Mike Lampton and Wang Jisi’s Warning on U.S.-China Relations

The podcast explores the escalating tensions between the U.S. and China, questioning whether the two nations are drifting towards an unintended conflict. It features David M. Lampton, a distinguished scholar of U.S.-China relations, who discusses a co-authored essay warning about the self-reinforcing strategic rivalry. Lampton highlights the danger of accidental war triggered by miscalculation and emphasizes the increasing difficulty of maintaining deterrence due to technological advancements in cyber and space domains. He suggests re-establishing the primacy of comparative advantage in economics to reduce security concerns and proposes that stabilizing the Taiwan issue could serve as a starting point for broader de-escalation.